Seems like his talents are wasted as a ‘fixer upper’. Give the man his own project to lead instead of parachuting him in to clean up shit. Have it starting with H and ending with O.
This is good news though, I just hope it’s not too late.
Joe would be an excellent studio lead. I am not sure that he would want that level of pressure though. The impression I get is that he enjoys more of an advisement role, especially after everything that happened leading up to his departure from the Destiny project. Can't say I blame him. I think his role on publishing side lets him enjoy rotating through projects of different sizes vs. being heads down AAA dev cycle over and over.
Now is time when you say "I'm sorry".
He is part of Microsoft's Publishing Team so he will be credited on anything that they produce but that doesn't mean he was involved in the day to day. I believe he was pretty involved in the day to day on Crackdown 3 all the way up through the last bit of post-launch content in summer of 2019. This year he has primarily been working with Don't Nod on Tell Me Why. I don't think the was that involved in Flight Simulator beyond the publishing credit. I am not sure that really meets the threshold of what we were talking about, this level of development and operational involvement like he is presumably going to have with Halo. I don't think he is the reason Crackdown 3 was poorly received. My impression is that he helped them get the game over the line and out the door. If you'd rather, I could say the last time he really rolled up his sleeves to get things moving on a AAA title was Crackdown 3.
It's not "FUD". Joe is one of my favorite people in the industry. He wrote my favorite game, Halo 2 (up there w/ ALTTP). If anyone knows and understands Halo it is Joe.
It is certainly not "FUD" to believe that the fact that they are bringing in additional leadership might indicate that the game was not in a great place. If you wish to choose to believe that everything at 343 is fine then so be it. I think myself and others can point to a decade of decisions that were largely unpopular with hardcore Halo fans.
Is there hyperbole from console warriors? Certainly, but thats not me. If what I am doing is "FUD" then I'll continue "spread FUD" where "FUD" is due. I try to take an unbiased approach. I will critique games, especially franchises I enjoy, as they deserve it. If this were a Sony studio called "Drake Studios" and they were struggling to make Uncharted 5 you can bet that I would be saying the same thing.